Chapter 229: Chapter 228: Illumination

Snow started to fall a few hours before dusk, thick and wet flakes that stuck to everything they landed on. With bad weather rolling in, the focus was on getting the soldiers some proper winter clothing and somewhere warm to sleep for the night. The bandits had taken all of their weapons and armor, as well as a good portion of their supplies, leaving Willa and her troop with little to get them through the storm. Considering the amount of supplies the soldiers had brought with them on the expedition, Jadis was surprised the bandits had made off with so much. It certainly didn’t look like they’d carried that much with them when they left.

Kerr suspected the bandits had squirreled away the supplies somewhere either elsewhere in the valley or in the mining cave. If their goal was to travel light and keep moving, it would make sense to leave supplies in hidden caches in locations they planned on returning to. The idea made sense to Jadis, which was why she planned on searching the area for the possible hidden stock of supplies. Not right away, though, not when the bandits could possibly be nearby and waiting to ambush anyone who separated from the main group.

On the bright side, the soldiers still had their wagon and their horses, as well as a few supplies that hadn’t been stolen. Fortune’s Favored also had an excess of food in the form of drake and bear meat from all the fights and hunting they’d done for the past few days, so there was plenty to go around. The pelts of the golden bears also served as warm, if smelly, coats for the divested troops.

There was no letting any guard down and no separate sleeping arrangements either. Jadis made sure to clear out the warehouse of the disturbing death machine the bandit called “Rickets” had made, giving both her companions and the soldiers a safe and secure place to spend the night.

Eir was able to heal everyone back to full health, though the effort left her magic reserves almost completely drained. With a maximum magic value of three hundred and sixty and a Divine attribute sitting at one hundred and twenty-three, her skill allowed her to heal eight thousand six hundred and forty health points, a true blessing for the battered soldiers. Between all the healing she did during the fight and all the healing afterwards, she actually went up a level by the time she’d gotten to everyone.

A new level in Beloved Cleric of Lyssandria brought with it a new spell, one that made some sense considering all the healing the priestess was doing.

It was essentially a less efficient version of Eir’s main healing spell, since the cost was three times the amount, however Jadis couldn’t argue with the elf’s reasoning. She could only heal one person at a time with her channeled healing which meant she had to choose who to focus on first. With this spell she could heal two people at once, a feat that could save lives in emergencies where more than one person was mortally wounded. Further, as Aila pointed out, taking a spell that allowed for multiple targets, even if it was less efficient than a single target spell, opened the pathway to better multiple target spells that could end up being far more effective in the future.

Eir wasn’t the only one to level up, either. Bridget had finally gained the last bit of experience she needed to push her over the edge and reach level twenty. The excitement over her achievement was slightly muted by the events of the day, but the orc warrior could accurately be described as walking on sunshine from the moment she read her notifications. The first person she told had been Jadis during a brief minute when Syd was alone with her.

"Fucking awesome!” Syd grinned as she gave the beaming orc a giant-sized hug, their armor clanking together noisily. “Finally got your second class! What did you get offered? Anything interesting? Something Nephilim related, or maybe a bit on the naughty side?”

“Ah, yeah, I did,” Bridget blushed, her green cheeks darkening. “Not really a surprise, was kind of forewarned and all that. Still feels weird, though, to take such a, uh, explicit class. Usually only see lewd stuff like this with whores and all that. Not that there’s anything wrong with people doing that kind of work! Just, never thought I’d have a class that could be compared to those sorts of classes.”

“You mean you took the lewd class?” Syd asked, one eyebrow raised. “It was really the best option?”

“Yeah, it really was,” the orc nodded. “One class I was offered was boring as fuck. ‘Flail Brute.' Just a bog-standard melee class that specializes in flails. Then there was a kind of okay one called ‘Arcane Flame Warrior’. Would have helped with my arcane magic damage and fire attacks. Actually, I probably would have taken that class if nothing better was offered.”

“So what’s the sexy one?”

“I’m getting to it,” Bridget rolled her eyes while giving Syd a shove that moved her more than Syd. “It’s called ‘Ardent Light of the Reborn’ which almost sounds, you know, not lewd? But it is. It abso-fucking-lutely is.”

“Well?” Syd wiggled her eyebrows as she grinned mischievously at Bridget. “C’mon, I can’t stand the suspense. What’s the description?”

Bridget’s face flushed dramatically, her blush practically making her skin glow a dark green. She barely managed to keep eye contact with Syd, her expression twisting with embarrassment. Jadis could only guess at what details in the description were prompting such a strong reaction from Bridget.

“I, uh, well… It’s a class that focuses on boosting my stats rather than providing combat skills. It gives me those boosts by, um, doing things. With Nephilim.”

“Oh?” Syd tilted her head curiously, putting on an air of mystified innocence. “What sorts of things? Maybe training of some kind, or prayer? Surely you couldn’t mean anything—”

“Shut it you nutter,” Bridget cut Syd off with a scowl and a jab of her elbow against Syd’s armored stomach. “You know exactly what kinds of things this class wants me to do with you.”

“I’d love to hear an example,” Syd purred.

Bridget cleared her throat, still having trouble meeting Syd’s eyes.

“So, my first skill. It’s, um, interesting.”

“Oh, wow,” Syd quietly exclaimed after she took a moment to digest the description Bridget had read aloud. “That’s quite a skill. That said, ‘at the same time’ right?”

“Yeah, yeah it did,” Bridget said with a wild-eyed look.

“Nice.”

“Nice? Really?” Bridget gave Syd an exasperated sigh. “That would be your reaction, wouldn’t it.”

“Sure is,” Syd agreed. “You know, the skill is kind of worded similar to Aila’s Nephilim Saturation skill. I bet if you have sex with all three of me, it’ll count as three separate instances just like for her. That means you’ll be getting, what, sixty total attribute points from one skill? Sure, it’s spread out across four stats, but that’s still a huge boost. Nice fucking skill, Bridget!”

“Yeah, it is, I think my stat issues are going to be pretty well solved by this one class. But I’m still just a tad hung up on the whole ‘three of you at once’ thing that has to happen. You don’t think that’s crazy? How in the abyss are you and me going to, you know, do all that? Together? At once!?”

Syd grinned, leaning down close to whisper into the nervous orc’s ear.

“Trust me, I can be very creative when it comes to fucking. We’ll find a way. And even if we don’t get it right on the first try, we’re going to have a lot of fun experimenting.”

The possibilities were many when it came to Bridget’s new lewd skill, and not just from a sexual perspective. As great as the skill was for the orc warrior and her stat-starved primary class, it could also be of great use to Jadis directly. With her Wanton Replication ritual, she could copy the skill and gain a nice little boost to her own attributes. She wasn’t sure if the skill would count her as three Nephilim or just one when she had sex with herself, but either way the skill would be useful, especially since she could put the points into four attributes of her choice. Bridget had chosen Strength, Arcane, Focus, and Will, all attributes she needed boosts in for her primary class to function more effectively. If Jadis copied the skill, she could put the points into Eldritch, which would help all of her lovers as well as herself, and her Resilience attribute, which as she well knew was in dire need of a boost. Putting points into two other stats would just be a nice bonus.

Skill replication aside, the new class and great skill were exciting news, the kind that needed to be shared. Syd happily dragged Bridget away from their private corner so the warrior could tell the rest of their companions all about her secondary class. Everyone was spread out, attending to different duties around the camp, but there was time to talk and everyone could use some good news to lighten the mood anyway.

There was one corner of the warehouse where the mood was darkest, however, and was likely to stay that way for a while.

Jay, Aila, and Thea had gathered together with captain Willa to go over the events that had led to the soldiers being captured by the bandits. Jadis made sure that Aila was with her since her sharp mind would likely catch any important details that Jadis might miss. She also asked Thea to attend the meeting since she was a former soldier of the Empire. It wasn’t that Jadis didn’t trust Willa, but she wanted Thea’s direct opinion on the story since there could be context, orders, or motivations that Thea might catch that Jadis would be ignorant of.

“They ambushed us yesterday, inside of the cave,” Willa recounted. “Achim was killed in the initial crossfire while Otto, Lutz, and Gunnar were captured. Then they pushed out of the cave and attacked the rest of us. They were on us so fast that we barely had time to mount a defense. Sofie and Gerd were killed during the fight outside. By that point, I was forced to surrender, else we would have all been killed.”

Willa didn’t look good. Eir’s magic had healed the wounds of her flesh, but there wasn’t much the magic could do for her mind. The normally stern and self-assured woman looked shaken, her confidence brittle, if not broken. She probably needed a therapist, or at least a couple of weeks of rest to come to terms with her recent terrible experiences. But that wasn’t an option out in the field. As much as Jadis felt for the woman, she needed answers to her questions. Willa’s rest would have to wait.

“How’d they catch you off guard?" Jay asked. “I know you’re careful about keeping watch. Was it the witch and her translucency spell?”

“No,” Willa shook her head, then thought better and shrugged. “Well, the witch contributed. They set up a screen over a tunnel in the mine. We never found it, not until it was too late. It let them get behind Achim and the others. That trap master of theirs has some powerful skills to be able to make such convincing screens without the use of illusion magic.”

“I didn’t think you were going to explore the caves,” Aila interjected. “Wasn’t your plan to investigate the village and then search other cave exits?”

“Yes,” Willa nodded, “that’s true. We didn’t go deep. Perhaps a hundred yards into that tunnel and the cave splits into mortal-made mining tunnels. We were investigating the entrances to those tunnels. We didn’t go far at all. They just… that man got the better of me.”

“You w—were outnumbered,” Thea pointed out.

“True,” Jay nodded in agreement. “There were a lot of those bandits. I think we killed a dozen or so of them, and I’m sure there must have been more when you fought them. No way you and Nora didn’t take down at least a few.”

“That’s true,” Willa said, one corner of her mouth lifting up slightly. “I believe Nora fried five or six of them with her lightning. We killed perhaps eight total. If they hadn’t split our forces, we likely would have been able to repel their attack. Most of them were not trained or skilled fighters. Their leader, however…”

Willa’s face morphed into a deep scowl as her thoughts turned to Stavros.

“That man is an elite. Three classes, level eighty to ninety would be my guess. He took on Jaxton, Landry, and me at the same time. I don’t think any of us ever landed a clean blow on him.”

“If he’s so strong, I’m surprised he gave up so easily,” Jay mused, running a hand through her hair. “We barely got a hit on him before he pulled back and started negotiating.”

“He’s cautious,” Aila said, her stoic expression as cool as the snow falling outside. “I would say he attacked you directly so he could assess your combat ability, then fell back when fighting the three of you proved to be too risky.”

“He’s a snake,” Willa spat. “He’s the type to put a knife in your side. I’ve no doubt he’s still somewhere in the forest nearby, plotting another ambush. A viper like him doesn’t run. He plots.”

Jadis agreed with Willa’s assessment. She was sure Stavros and his bandits were planning revenge for their defeat. But there was a more important question on her mind, one she wanted to steer the conversation towards. What better way to direct the flow than by brute force?

Well, probably lots of better ways. But a direct question could do wonders, in Jadis’ opinion.

“He’s a snake alright,” Jay said as she leaned forward, meeting Willa’s eyes. “But he’s not the reason you and your troops are out here. According to Stavros, imperial soldiers captured five of his men. Clearly, that wasn’t done by you. That means there are imperial soldiers already out here, in the tunnels that are supposedly being illegally mined. So what the fuck’s going on, Willa?”

There was a tense silence as Willa stared at Jay with an indignant expression, perhaps not expecting such a direct confrontation. Aila’s poker face was immaculate, though Thea looked nervously between Jay and the captain. Jay kept quiet, waiting for Willa to respond before she said any more. Eventually, the captain sighed, shaking her head.

“You’re right. We weren’t sent to investigate bandits. Didn’t have a clue they were out here.”

“Then who did you have a clue about?”

“Someone you don’t accuse unless you have concrete evidence,” Willa said with a dark look. “Not unless you’re prepared for a major conflict.”

“Someone high up in the military chain of command,” Aila said slowly. “Someone who ranks high enough or has enough political backing that the Magistrate can’t simply arrest or investigate them openly per her authority but also isn’t high enough that they can challenge her directly.”

“S—someone that can c—command the loyalty of a good number of imperial t—troops,” Thea join in. “Or at least k—keep them silent.”

As ignorant to local politics as Jadis was, even she could narrow down the list of suspects to just one person.

“Egilhard,” Jay grunted, her expression turning sour.

“General Egilhard,” Willa agreed.

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